“Amazing” and “perfect” don’t do justice describing the lyrics Lil Wayne is writing in jail. That’s what the hip-hop star who’s serving time in New York’s Rikers Island prison said yesterday of his new material in his newest letter to fans. In addition to touching on his music, Wayne also took some time out to answer a question he’s often asked. What does he do all day?

“I wake up around 11AM,” he starts in his note. “Have some coffee. Call my kids, and my wonderful mother. I then shower up. Read fan mail. Have lunch. Back on the phone. Read a book or write some thoughts down. Have dinner. Phone. Push-ups. Then I listen to ESPN on the radio. Read the Bible, then sleep. That’s my day.” He has roughly 100 more days of that regime. He’s expected to be released this November.

In other Weezy-related news, his manager Cortez Bryant recently told Vibe Magazine that he plans on releasing I’m Not A Human Being, an EP and prelude to Wayne’s Tha Carter IV, in September. 

“I’ll probably drop it on his birthday, September 27,” said Bryant. It won’t be released for commercial purposes, though. At least not initially, he said. “We’re not about to roll out no three month set up. I’m not even putting it out in stores. We’re just gonna put it out virally and maybe package it up for Christmas. Give ‘em a hard copy later for fan appreciation.” The EP likely will feature songs Wayne recorded before he was imprisoned in March.

How To Like It.

You were never supposed to hear these songs. These songs lost me my management, my record deal and a lot of nights of sleep.

Yes, I rapped one of them. Im as surprised as you are. But here is the thing you need to know about these songs and the ones coming next: These are all me. Love them, or hate them, but dont mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free for all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens.

This is my journey. Ill keep sending you postcards.

-Liz

Jimmy Buffett said a fan pretty much summed things up about all the excitement taking place Sunday evening (July 11) on the sands of Orange Beach in Gulf Shores, Ala.

"I saw a sign out there that said, 'What would Jimmy Buffett do? Throw a party at the oil slick!'" Buffett said. "You're right!"

And that's exactly what he did by hosting a free concert to demonstrate support for the people, businesses and culture of the Gulf Coast. The Parrotheads flocking to the concert got the party of a lifetime while viewers throughout the U.S. were able to share the moment with Jimmy Buffett & Friends: Live From the Gulf Coast, a concert special on CMT and CMT.com.

"Thank you all for coming from wherever you came to help support our good friends, neighbors -- and some of my family down here, as well," Buffett told the crowd after opening the show with "The Pascagoula Run," a track from his 1989 album, Off to See the Lizard.

As an entertainer, Buffett consistently proves he has few peers when it comes to connecting with an audience, even the tens of thousands who showed up on Orange Beach. The 90-minute telecast was packed with the songs that made him famous, including "One Particular Harbour," "Come Monday," "Son of a Son of a Sailor," "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "A Pirate Looks at Forty" and, of course, "Margaritaville."

Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown were scheduled to appear when the concert was originally planned for July 1. Other commitments prevented them from participating once the show was rescheduled for Sunday following concerns about surf conditions created by Hurricane Alex.

While Sunday's special guests were not as well known to a mainstream country audience, Buffett was clearly honored to introduce singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester and New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint. Buffett was comfortable in a sideman's role as Winchester performed "Rhumba Man" and "Mississippi, You're on My Mind." Toussaint delivered "Yes We Can," a song he wrote and produced for R&B great Lee Dorsey during the '70s.

Singer-songwriter Mac McAnally, Buffett's longtime collaborator and band member, assumed Alan Jackson's role on "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" and took the lead again on "Back Where I Come From," his original song that was later covered by Chesney.

Although everyone on the beach understood that the concert was in response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Buffett did not dwell on the problem. He did, however, revamp part of the lyrics to "Margaritaville" to proclaim, "It's all BP's fault!"

He also revised the lyrics to "When the Coast Is Clear," a song from 1986's Floridays album, to close the televised portion of the concert. The song, one of the first Buffett wrote with McAnally, took on a poignant new meaning with a message of encouragement to those who love the Gulf Coast area.

Born in Pascagoula, Miss., and raised in Mobile, Ala., the concert was something of a homecoming for Buffett. At the end of the telecast, he took a short break and returned with his band to continue the concert with songs such as Winchester's "Biloxi" before closing the evening with Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl."

A judge in Sydney has ordered the Australian band Men at Work to hand over a portion of the royalties from their 1980s hit Down Under, after previously ruling its distinctive flute riff was copied from a children's campfire song.

But the penalty he imposed of 5% of the song's royalties was far less than the 60% sought by publishing company Larrikin Music, which holds the copyright for the song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.

Kookaburra was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Guides competition, and the song about the native Australian bird has been a favourite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.

Sinclair died in 1988, but Larrikin filed a copyright lawsuit last year. In February, federal court judge Peter Jacobson ruled Men at Work had copied their song's signature flute melody from Kookaburra.

Today, Jacobson ordered Men at Work's recording company, EMI Songs Australia, and Down Under songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, to pay 5% of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from its future earnings. A statute of limitations restricted Larrikin from seeking royalties earned before 2002.

The court didn't specify what the 5% penalty translates to in dollars.

"I consider the figures put forward by Larrikin to be excessive, overreaching and unrealistic," Jacobson wrote in his judgment.

Adam Simpson, Larrikin Music's lawyer, did not comment. Hay and Strykert were not in court for the decision and couldn't be reached.

Down Under and the album it was on, Business As Usual, topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work won the 1983 Grammy award for best new artist.